Virtual technology has brought new development opportunities to the tourism market and is expected to help the tourism industry cope with the challenges issuing from the COVID-19 pandemic. Given this context, in this study, we propose and test a model based on the SOR architecture, which includes tourists’ experience of virtual tourism, technical readiness (TR), technical acceptance (TA), and tourists’ virtual tourism intentions and the variables of flow experience, technical optimism, technical discomfort, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, adoption intention, and consumption intention. To this end, data were collected through a questionnaire survey of Chinese tourists (n = 542). Then, we used a structural equation model (SEM) to test the hypothetical relationships between potential variables. The results showed that the flow experience delivered by the virtual tourism experience affects tourists’ tendencies to use and intentions to consume virtual tourism. Second, flow experiences can make tourists more optimistic about virtual tourism technology, reduce tourists’ technical discomfort, and enhance tourists’ perceptions of usefulness and ease of use. We also found that tourists’ intentions to use virtual tourism technology affect their intentions to travel on the spot. These findings provide useful insights for tourism practitioners, suggest new ideas for marketing and sustainable development in the virtual tourism industry, and verify the application of the integrated SOR and TAM framework in the field of tourism consumption.

Although virtual tourism (VT) has been touted as an effective alternative or transitional solution to tourism, few researches have been conducted on how to maintain and enhance visitors’ satisfaction with it and how to translate positive sentiments into on-site travel intentions. This study proposes a conceptual model under the uses and gratifications theory and attachment theory. It aims to investigate the gratification factors that improve tourist satisfaction of VT and to determine the effect of attachment to virtual reality (VR), satisfaction, and loyalty on the intention to visit the destination recommended. To test the model, a sample of 624 respondents was captured and the PLS-SEM was used. The findings suggest that informativeness, entertainment, and social interactivity determine tourists’ satisfaction, with entertainment being the most important factor. Attachment to VR has a significantly positive impact on improving satisfaction and transforming the uses and gratifications of VT into on-site visit intention. However, the positive impact of satisfaction with VT on on-site tourism intention reduces as the level of connection to nature increases. This study extends UGT theory and provides references for tourism practitioners and managers to enhance tourists’ VT satisfaction and to advance tourism speedy recovery.

This study examines the influence of environmental values on consumer intentions to participate in agritourism through the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and value-belief-norm (VBN) theory. It proposes an integrative model by adding two variables, i.e., environmental benefits and the human-nature coordination concept, to the TPB. The study employs a questionnaire survey method and a sample of 640, which was statistically analysed through structural equation modeling (SEM). The results reveal that the “environmental values-attitudes-behavioural intentions” framework has scientific applicability in agritourism. Environmental values, measured through the variables environmental benefits and the human-nature coordination concept, are positively correlated directly or indirectly with agritourism consumption intentions, while attitudes and subjective norms serve as mediators. However, the mediating effect of perceived behavioural control is not statistically significant, indicating making efforts to influence attitudes and subjective norms is more useful for and effective in stimulating the public’s intentions towards agritourism. As this study tests the hypotheses with empirical data, it provides practical implications for policy-makers and programme managers.

This article examines the contradictory outcomes of China’s rural reform since 1978. It traces four periods of rural reform policies through cyclical rounds of policy implementation, structural transformations, and economic, social, and environmental outcomes. The analysis reveals that contradictory outcomes are embedded within conflicting goals framing rural reform policies, specifically goals to modernize China’s rural regions and fair resource allocation among its inhabitants. In addition, the Chinese central government has repeatedly resorted to a top-down, campaign-style approach, creating conflicting objectives between short-term quota fulfillment and sustainable structural adjustment policies. The research suggests that the socio-environmental contradictions emerging from rural transformations in China must be viewed within the global political economic context that favors growth oriented, efficiency-based development strategies.